Marsh Lane Allotments

Wish Google maps would update so we could see the plots from the sky!
Marsh Ln, Hungerford, West Berkshire RG17 0, UK http://m.google.co.uk/u/m/QtUCbA

Tenerife

We've been sunning ourselves in Tenerife for the last 10 days.

Can't help thinking what it would be like growing veggies here! We've decided that carrots would appreciate the sandy soil; potatoes would be blight free; tomatoes and peppers would be abundant and there'd be lots of squashes and melons. Only trouble is the lack of water - really would need to get that sorted! Here in the North of the island they do get some rain so it is lovely and green, but still even drier than Marsh Lane.

The veggies in the shops are pretty weak looking, the spuds tend to look like seed potatoes. Haven't seen too many bugs apart from butterflies, so there must be some caterpillars about, though I'm surprised any get past the lizards!



Aah, back home tomorrow to see if we've had any frost....

Crazy weather for November

The weather is still really warm for November (2.5degC) was the lowest last week. There hasn't been any rain for a while but it's been misty/foggy so it was pretty wet on the allotment this morning, but the sun was shining.
The weather's causing a bit of confusion - our raspberry canes are flowering again! We're going to clear them late this year or in the new year and just keep a few canes where we want them to grow - it'll be a shame if they've got fruit on them!!

We only went to have a look at the broad beans - the 3 which hadn't grown last week are still pathetic so we've left the cloches on them, the rest look happy enough though something is nibbling the leaves.

Talking of nibbling.... we didn't eat many of our sweetcorn this year as they hadn't produced very good cobs, but something is happily clearing them up for us!

Bad Camouflage

Whilst tidying up the chard - clearing dodgy-looking leaves and removing a couple of plants - I found three of these bright green caterpillars. A hopeless place to hide as they were almost glowing against the red stems. The Wildaboutbritain web forum confirmed that it's probably a Angle Shade moth larva.
They're living over the hedge now :-|

Hot November

We haven't visited the plot for a couple of weekends but wanted to get up there to do some digging today. It's been rainy and dull over the last week (lowest temp was 1.5°) but today the sun was shining and it was about 16° - amazing for November!

The broad beans have sprouted well, with only a small number not looking right. I took the cloches off all the good ones and have put a frame over them in an attempt to keep pigeons off...

Pulled the remaining turnips and dug over the area and the green manured area.
We cleared Quarter 3 and dug the horse manure in, avoiding the area where the peas are going to stay.
Jamie dug up the last of the purple Congo potatoes and we also took home a giant beetroot and a carrot to have a lovely veggie bake tomorrow.

We left 3 hours later with a much tidier looking plot.

Next Year's spuds and onions ordered

We've placed our order for next year from Thompson and Morgan.

We've opted for these potato varieties:

Potato 'Kestrel' - 10 seed potatoes (Second Earlies)

Potato 'Orla' - 10 seed potatoes (First Earlies) We found these to be good for mash and baking too this year

Potato 'Belana' - 5 seed potatoes (First Earlies) These should produce lots of small new potatoes

And we've ordered the following onions and shallots:

Onion 'Santero' F1 Hybrid - This is an early cropper which is apparently resistant to downy mildew

Shallot 'Golden Gourmet' - Our favourites for making pickled onions They won't arrive until Jan-mid-May. We've ordered less than we've had this year, as they just keep going on for too long really. We got a bit fed up with the new potatoes this year and it's a shame to let them grow big. We've still got a Congo and a Kestrel plant in the ground at the plot at the moment. We're really hoping the onions will be happier next year so that we get a full season without them succombing to mildew...

Halloween

We had a lovely Halloween dinner: Layered beetroot, potato, carrot and tofu chunks in a cheesy sauce - so delicious and colourful (we used purple spuds).

The next day the pumpkin went to the compost bin - not a home-grown pumpkin this year; they take up so much room, but next year we may grow some small jack-o-lantern squashes...

More Tidying

Another sunny morning meant more weeding and tidying up on the plot. No signs of life in the broad beans yet.
I ventured into the sprout cage, weeded and pulled off all the yellowing leaves at the lower level of the sprouts. Masses of white fly under there, while some of the sprouts look really healthy - others look really awful!

We actually weeded Plot 8A as well - it was a state! Filled a compost bag with weeds. It looks so much happier now.

And we went home with another trug full of purple Congo potatoes.

Sloe Gin

As expected there weren't enough sloes in the hedge by our plot so we picked ours from Hungerford Common where there were loads. Some of the berries were pretty small but we filled a jar and made a litre of sloe gin in 2 kilner jars half filled with sloes and with about the same weight in sugar. We'll just give the jars a shake every day and in a few months we'll have a lovely drink.

Enjoying the sunshine

And it was lovely being able to sit in the sun with a coffee again! Look at that blue sky - gorgeous!

This bee was enjoying warming itself in the sun too